Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-year long conflict beginning with Red August, and ending with _. Although the Bolshevik Revolution unseated the Republican Government of Kerensky, The Bolsheviks had little support outside of industrialized, european Russia. As such, Siberia, and the Kuban Steppe became hotspots for the Anti-Bolshevik forces. By the ceasefire, Russia 'between Petrograd and Rostov, and between Kazan and Smolensk' were under effective Bolshevik occupation. Early Revolutionary Days + Ceasefire(22nd August, 2nd of November 1916) Red August and its Aftermath With Lenin's usurpation of power in Petrograd, all cities without 1. Majority Bolshevik Support and 2. Distant from the control of the Red Guard could not be taken by the Bolsheviks. Beginning in Petrograd (22nd August, Gregorian), various cities all eventually were taken over by the Red Guard Militias, made up of citizens in these cities. In a single day, Soviet partisans secured cities such as Smolensk, Moscow, Kazan, Nizhy Novgorod, Rostov-On-Don and Tsaritsyn, industrial European Russia was marred by constant combat between civilian pro-Red Guard civilians revolting against Provisional Government officials and ex-Tsarist soldiers from the now-dissolved Russian Imperial Army. Although the revolution was spontaneous and rapidly sucessful, Soviet officials ability to project influence beyond Industrial European Russia was extremely limited, and Soviet focuses were far more directed towards securing a ceasefire with the German Empire. Ceasefire is Signed With the city of Petrograd under immediate threat of German occupation, it became more necessary than ever to lift the burden of war from the shoulders of the Russian people. On the 8th of October (Gregorian) The Bolsheviks and the Germans met to negotiate a ceasefire. Trotsky, the leading advocate of the 'no war, no peace' concept refused to agree to any of Von Zimmerman's talking points, and the German diplomats angrily stormed out on the 15th, after a week of complete deadlock. Two days later, on the 17th of October, Operation Faustschlag was set into motion. Operation Faustschlag Max Hoffman, commander of the operation, used the democratization and abolishment of the Russian Imperial Army to his advantage, as German and Austro-Hungarian forces rolled across Russia, and especially Ukraine. Kiev would fall on the 27th, and the day after, Vladimir Lenin would met with Von Zimmerman to sort out a formal peace deal. The Treaty of Smolensk was a massive surrender of previously Russian territory into Soviet satellite states. Soviet Military Situation The only explicity military force under the Bolsheviks in the days following Operation Faustschlag was the now-devastated Red Guard. The Russian Imperial Army had been dissolved by the Bolshevik's own decree, and War Commisariat Leon Trotsky would attempt to put back together the wreckage of the Red Guard as opposition coalesced far more rapidly than Soviet forces were rebuilding. Krasnov Uprising On the 31st of October, Halloween, A ragtag. ad hoc effort to retake Petrograd with whatever forces could be mustered from the city of Pskov, which had been looted and sacked by German troops when they withdrew two days prior. The 4,000 strong expedition would find its death on the outskirts of Petrograd. This was one of the last attempts to rapidly overthrow and take power, as the situation of Russia would slowly turn from flickers of violence into a firestorm that would ravage across Russia within the next several years. Committee of Tashkent The Tashkent Committee, an organization formed by Republican forces after Kerensky took power, organized in Central Asia began to feel the influence of the Bolsheviks, which would come to be fiercely opposed by conservative, heavily Islamic factions in Central Asia. Anti-Bolshevik Opposition Solidifies (4th of November 1916, 5th of March 1917) Volunteer Army of Novercherassk In late October and Early November, as Operation Faustschlag wound to a close, various generals of Kerensky and Nikolai II's armies would meet in Cossack-controlled Novercherassk to sort out a plan in opposition to the Bolsheviks. Despite the convening of such names as Mikhail Alekseyev, Lavr Kornilov, Anton Denikin and Sergey Markov, the early Volunteer Army was laughably insignificant. The weight of the early White Movement would be almost entirely piled onto the Cossacks of the Don and Kuba. Alexei Kaledin, commander of a large group of Cossack Cavalry men was the only real White 'army' during the first month of the war. As political turmoil gripped the Don, the armies of the Cossack defended the region from a possible Bolshevik incursion as the Volunteer Army grew rapidly. At the beginning of the formation, only 12 of the 4,000 Volunteer Army (V.A) soldiers were privates prior to their joining; the rest were officers joining (reluctantly) as privates. On the 8th of Janruary, roughly 1,000 White soldiers marched north from Novercherassk to take the city from the Red Guard. Alexsei Kaledin supported this, and used it to stir up even more support from the already fervently Anti-Bolshevik Cossacks of the region. By March, this Volunteer Army would find itself up against the most difficult challenge yet, the legendary Ice March. The Volunteer Army, now numbering roughly 6,000 men, supported by Kaledin's cossacks was faced with the significantly superior Bolshevik force bearing down on them from the north. Leon Trotsky's newly formed Worker's And Peasant's Red Army was strengthening, and held a numerical superiority over the forces of the Whites in Rostov. Despite the freezing conditions of the Kuban Steppe, on the 3rd of March, Kornilov's forces marched south, back to Novercherassk. The operation went off without Kornilov's forces being captured or destroyed, and Alexei Kaledin was distraught by the loss of Rostov, and ended is own life on the 4th of March. Caucasian Opposition Strengthens (6th of March 1917, 20th of March 1917) Central Power's Aid Arrives Ottoman-Azerbaijani forces, under the Army of Islam, formed in 1916 as the Ottomans advanced into the Caucasus, arrived with the Cossacks in Novercherassk. The 20,000 man-strong troop would assist in the bolstering of Caucasian troops, although they would not see active combat until 1918. The German Caucasian Expedition arrived across the Sea of Azov from Crimea, in order to assist Kornilov and the Cossack host with a reorganization of their army, as well as sending 36,000 men. The Cossack host had reached around 40,000 at this point, and Volunteer forces, although the leaders of this expedition, numbered only 11,000 men, under the command of Kornilov. Opposition In Siberia Begins + The Armed Forces of Southern Russia (8th of October 1916, April 22nd, 1917) The Czechoslovak Legionnaries In October of 1916, following the August Revolution, the Czechoslovak Legion attempted to transport itself to France, so that they could continue to fight against the Central Powers. The Legionnaries attempted to sort out a conference with the Bolsheviks, so that they could be transported to Siberia. The Bolsheviks agreed, under the condition that the Czechoslovak Legion hand over some of their weapons. The Legion agreed, and moved to Ukraine, attempting to traverse the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Vladivostok, where they hoped Britain could ferry them to France. Although suspicious of the Legion's intentions, the Bolsheviks agreed. While still in Ukraine, however, the Legionnaries were attacked by German troops, although the Legion fought them off and managed to avoid German capture. However, by the end of the year, as the Legionarries were still spread out along the Trans-Siberian railroad. As the Legion was still attempting to properly evacuate, France collapsed. Some Legionnaries wished to continue fighting in Greece and the Middle East, while others had given up hope and wished to disband. After the collapse of the Western Front, War Commisariat Leon Trotsky ordered that the Czechoslovak Legions must disarm. The Legionaries refused, and so began the Revolt of the Legions. By the turn of 1917, most of the major cities of Siberia: Omsk, Vladivostok, Chelyabinsk, Petropavlovsk, Kurgan, Novonikolaevsk, Mariinsk, Nizhneudinsk, and Kansk were under Czechosolvak control. By February, Legionnaries defeated the Red Guard in the city of Samara. Several days later, the KOMUCH, a government centered in Omsk mostly comprised of SRs and the Russian Constituent Assembly, which was dissolved by the Bolsheviks was formed under the protection of the Czechoslovak Legion. The Siberian Army Immediately after the formation of KOMUCH, the new government attempted to sort out a new army for Siberia, to rival the rapidly growing forces of the Red Army. The Siberian Army was formed, under the KOMUCH, aided by the anti-Bolshevik Provisional Siberian Government, which quickly split into the Old Provisional Siberian government and the New Provisional Siberian Government, both of which claimed to be the true Siberian Government, both centered in Czechoslovak-held Vladivostok. These four factions would come to form the backbone of opposition to the Bolsheivks in Siberia. The Provisional All-Russian Government In March, the four factions, of the Czechoslovak Legion, the KOMUCH (with the Siberian Army), and the New and Old Provisional Siberian Government, combined in a Provisional All-Russian Government, which organized the two forces into a single army, which came to inspire Kornilov and Krasnov to form the Armed Forces of Southern Russia. The Armed Forces of Southern Russia The Don and Kuban Cossack forces, with the Volunteer Army and aided by the Army of Islam and the German Caucasus Expedition united to form a single Armed Forces of Southern Russia in April. By that time, the total army comprised of 150,000 men, 50,000 of which were Ottoman/Azerbaijani/German. White Counteroffensive ( The Provisional All-Russian Government Strikes Back As the Siberian Army rapidly grew, the cabinet of the P.A-R.G came under the influence of Tsarist Admiral Alexandr Kolchak, who saw the old lefitist republican government in Siberia 'wholly unfit' to lead resistance to the Bolsheviks. On the 3rd of April, Kolchak and a troop of cossacks took over the government in Omsk, arresting all SR politicians and proclaiming himself 'Supreme Ruler'. The SRs Ally with the Bolsheviks As Kolchak had ordered the SRs out of the Siberian government, the leftist forces reluctantly joined with the Bolsheviks in April and May. New Siberian Army Kolchak began the reorganization of the Siberian Army, hoping to strengthen it to the point where the Siberian Army could mount an offensive towards the Volga before the winter of 1917 set in. West Russian Volunteer Army A German army in the Baltics, independent of the armed forces of the United Baltic Duchy, had been formed in early 1917 to protect the fledgling U.B.D from a possible Soviet invasion. Now numbering roughly 50,000 strong, it supported Yudenich's forces. Yudenich's forces numbered 15,000 strong in early 1917. Supreme Ruler of All Russia Kolchak, as leader of the Provisional All-Russian Government, was nominally recognized by Yudenich, Kornilov and various Cossack leaders as the 'Supreme Ruler of Russia'. Both Yudenich and Kornilov lacked any sort of civilian government, and recognition of widely-popular Kolchak helped to legitimize opposition to the Bolsheviks. It also allowed for better planning between the factions, as the armies laid out a total counteroffensive from three sides to advance on Moscow late in 1917. Siberian troops in the East. Spearheaded by the Czechoslovak Legion, an offensive was led to advance towards the Volga as the Red Army had little strength in the region at that time. Perm and Ufa rapidly fell to the Czechoslovak advance, and the Siberian Army was deployed to move West towards Kazan. Cossack forces in the region moved towards the southeastern Volga near Samara. The Red Army Rapidly Grows As the war in the Middle East was coming to a close in March 1917, more and more German men and supplies could be deployed to the Whites. Germany hoped to supply the Whites for an offensive that could destroy the Bolsheviks and this dangerous ideology before the winter of 1917, lest they would have to wait until April 1918 before a simultaneous offensive could be mounted. Although the front was largely quiet at this time (besides the slow advance of Siberian forces) War Commisariat Leon Trotsky new the Red Army would have to be strengthened massively before the Whites could mount a counteroffensive. In March 1917 the Bolsheviks began mandatory conscription, as an attempt to rapidly grow their forces. A Storm Sweeps the East In early